''The Odd Couple'' (titled onscreen ''Neil Simon's The Odd Couple'') is an American
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
television series broadcast from September 24, 1970 to March 7, 1975 on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
. The show, which stars
Tony Randall
Anthony Leonard Randall (born Aryeh Leonard Rosenberg; February 26, 1920 – May 17, 2004) was an American actor. He is best known for portraying the role of Felix Unger in a television adaptation of the 1965 play ''The Odd Couple'' by Neil Sim ...
as Felix Unger and
Jack Klugman
Jack Klugman (April 27, 1922 – December 24, 2012) was an American actor of stage, film, and television.
He began his career in 1950 and started television and film work with roles in '' 12 Angry Men'' (1957) and '' Cry Terror!'' (1958). ...
as Oscar Madison, was the first of several
sitcom
A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
s developed by
Garry Marshall
Garry Kent Marshall (November 13, 1934 – July 19, 2016) was an American filmmaker and actor. He started his career in the 1960s writing for ''The Lucy Show'' and ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'' before he developed Neil Simon's 1965 play ''The Odd Co ...
for
Paramount Television. The series is based on the 1965 play ''
The Odd Couple Odd Couple may refer to:
Neil Simon play and its adaptations
* ''The Odd Couple'' (play), a 1965 stage play by Neil Simon
** ''The Odd Couple'' (film), a 1968 film based on the play
*** ''The Odd Couple'' (1970 TV series), a 1970–1975 televisi ...
'' written by
Neil Simon
Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...
, which was also adapted into the 1968 film ''
The Odd Couple Odd Couple may refer to:
Neil Simon play and its adaptations
* ''The Odd Couple'' (play), a 1965 stage play by Neil Simon
** ''The Odd Couple'' (film), a 1968 film based on the play
*** ''The Odd Couple'' (1970 TV series), a 1970–1975 televisi ...
''. The story examines two divorced men, Oscar and Felix, who share a
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
apartment and whose opposite personalities inevitably lead to conflict and laughter.
In 1997, the episodes "Password" and "The Fat Farm" were ranked No. 5 and No. 58, respectively, on
''TV Guide''s 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. The show received three nominations for the
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series is an annual award given to the best television comedy series of the year. From 1960 to 1964, this category was combined with the Comedy Specials (one time programs) category so that both type ...
.
History
![Tony Randall Jack Klugman Odd Couple 1972](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Tony_Randall_Jack_Klugman_Odd_Couple_1972.JPG)
The success of the
1968 film version of the stage play of ''
The Odd Couple Odd Couple may refer to:
Neil Simon play and its adaptations
* ''The Odd Couple'' (play), a 1965 stage play by Neil Simon
** ''The Odd Couple'' (film), a 1968 film based on the play
*** ''The Odd Couple'' (1970 TV series), a 1970–1975 televisi ...
'', which starred
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leadin ...
as Felix and
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director.
He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), ''King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a ...
as Oscar, catalyzed production of the television show.
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney (born Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last surviving stars of the ...
and
Martin Balsam
Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New ...
were also considered for the part of Oscar and
Dean Martin
Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...
and
Art Carney
Arthur William Matthew Carney (November 4, 1918 – November 9, 2003) was an American actor and comedian. A recipient of an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and six Primetime Emmy Awards, he was best known for his role as Ed ...
for Felix (Carney had originated the role on Broadway).
Eventually Tony Randall (as Felix) and Jack Klugman (as Oscar) were hired; Klugman had replaced Walter Matthau as Oscar in the original Broadway production, and Randall had also appeared as Felix in other productions of the play. Randall, who was hired first, had still wanted Mickey Rooney to play Oscar. Co-executive producer Garry Marshall had to lobby hard to get Klugman successfully hired. Once the casting was in place, the show's writers (Marshall,
Jerry Belson
Jerry Belson (July 8, 1938 – October 10, 2006) was a writer, director, and producer of Hollywood films for over 40 years.
Career
Belson's writing credits include the Steven Spielberg films ''Always'' and ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'', ...
,
Jerry Paris
William Gerald Paris (July 25, 1925 – March 31, 1986) was an American actor and director best known for playing Jerry Helper, the dentist and next-door neighbor of Rob and Laura Petrie, on ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', and for directing the majo ...
,
Bob Brunner
Robert "Bob" Brunner (August 3, 1934 – October 28, 2012) was an American screenwriter, film producer, and television producer. He frequently collaborated in film and television with Garry Marshall, the creator of ''Happy Days''. Brunner is cre ...
,
Mark Rothman
Mark Harvey Rothman (born November 1, 1947) is an American writer best known for having been involved with the creation and production of ''Laverne and Shirley.'' He was also the head writer and show runner of numerous other shows including ''Hap ...
and
Lowell Ganz
Lowell Ganz (born August 31, 1948 in New York City) is an American screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is the long-time writing partner of Babaloo Mandel.
Ganz grew up in Queens, New York, attending Martin Van Buren Hi ...
, among others) came up with a multitude of situations for Felix and Oscar to be in, while staying true to the soul of the play, which always reverted to the human tensions between the two that created the comic situations.
The show premiered on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
on September 24, 1970. The first season was filmed at Paramount studios using the
single-camera
The single-camera setup, or single-camera mode of production, also known as portable single camera, is a method of filmmaking and video production.
The single-camera setup originally developed during the birth of the classical Hollywood cinema ...
method and a
laugh track
A laugh track (or laughter track) is a separate soundtrack for a recorded comedy show containing the sound of audience laughter. In some productions, the laughter is a live audience response instead; in the United States, where it is most common ...
, utilizing the same apartment set seen in Paramount's 1968 film version. Klugman and Randall both expressed displeasure with using a laugh track without a live audience. Marshall also disliked the practice;
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
veteran Randall particularly resented the process of having to wait several seconds between punchlines in order to allot enough space for the laughter to be inserted. The production team eventually experimented with omitting the laugh track altogether for Season One's 21st episode, "Oscar's New Life" (laughter was subsequently added for syndication in order to maintain continuity). By the second season, ABC relented, and the show was then filmed with three cameras and performed like a stage play in front of a live studio audience, with laugh
sweetening
Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, keton ...
completed during post-production.
The change also required construction of a new, larger apartment set with a new layout, within a theatre at Paramount.
Randall and Klugman both enjoyed the spontaneity that came with performing in front of a live audience; any missed or blown lines usually went by without stopping (they would be reshot during post-production). In addition, it gave the show a certain edge that had been lost during the first season, although the actors had to deliver lines more loudly, since they were on a larger sound stage, as opposed to a quiet studio with only minimal crew present.
Klugman later recalled, "We spent three days rehearsing the show. We sat around a table the first day. We tore the script apart. We took out all the jokes and put in character. The only reason we leave in any jokes is for the rotten canned laughter. I hated it. I watch the shows at home, I see Oscar come in and he says, 'Hi,' and there is the laughter. 'Hey,' I think, 'what the hell did I do?' I hate it; it insults the audience."
Throughout its five years on ABC, ''The Odd Couple'' was juggled several times around the network's programming schedule, never reaching the Top 30 in the
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
. However, ABC continually renewed the show because the ratings for the summer reruns were consistently high.
In the final first-run episode, "Felix Remarries", Felix finally wins his ex-wife Gloria back and they remarry, as Oscar regains the freedom of living alone again. The final scene unfolds in this way, as the two say their goodbyes:
:Felix: Your dinner's in the oven; turn it off in 20 minutes.
auseOscar … what can I say? Five years ago you took me in: a broken man on the verge of … mental collapse. I leave here a cured human being. I owe it all to you.
esturing toward apartmentIt's all yours buddy. I salute you.
mpties waste basket onto floor:Oscar: Felix, you know how I'm gonna salute you? I'm gonna clean that up.
:Felix: It has not been in vain.
:
hey shake hands and Felix exits stage left through front door. After door closes …:Oscar:
wings his hand through the airI'm not gonna clean that up.
xits stage right to bedroom to audience laughter:
elix sneaks back in stage left and looks at floor Elix may refer to:
* Əlix, a village in the municipality of Quturğan in the Qusar Rayon of Azerbaijan
* John Alan Elix (born 1941) (Elix), an Australian lichenologist
See also
* Helix (disambiguation)
{{Disambiguation ...
:Felix:
isgustedlyI knew he wouldn't clean it up!
roceeds to pick up trash to audience applause(fade out)
The 114 episodes went on to
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
and home video.
Differences between the series and the play/film
* In the TV series, Felix's last name was spelled ''Unger'' but in the play and film it is spelled ''Ungar''.
* In the stage play, Felix is a news writer for
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
(in the film he writes the news for "television"), while in the TV series he is a commercial photographer. (His slogan, which he is quick to vocalize, is "Portraits a specialty".)
* Felix's wife is named Frances in the play and in the film, but is Gloria in the TV series.
* In the play and the film, Oscar has at least two children (including a son "Brucey"), who are referred to but not seen. In the series, Oscar is childless. In the play and the film, Felix has a son and a younger daughter. In the series, the children's birth order is reversed, and they are named Leonard and Edna, after Tony Randall's middle name and the name of his sister.
* In the series, Felix is portrayed as being rather highbrow with refined tastes in food, music and the arts in general; he is baffled by much of popular culture. In the play/film, Felix is much more of a “regular guy”: He ogles
go-go dancers
Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at nightclubs or other venues where music is played. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s at the French bar Whisky a Gogo located in Juan-les-Pins. The bar's name was taken ...
, plays poker, goes bowling and shoots pool. Though the pre-TV Felix enjoys cooking and prepares well-crafted sandwiches for his friends, he mentions on different occasions preparing rather simple dinners like meatloaf, franks and beans and
cole slaw. When the dinner he has prepared for the Pigeon Sisters burns (meatloaf in the film,
London Broil
London broil, also known as the “Dawson” in parts of the Southern United States, is a beef dish made by broiling marinated beef, then cutting it across the grain into thin strips. Despite its name, the dish and the terminology are North Ame ...
in the play), he suggests substituting corned beef sandwiches from the local
delicatessen
Traditionally, a delicatessen or deli is a retail establishment that sells a selection of fine, exotic, or foreign prepared foods. Delicatessen originated in Germany (original: ) during the 18th century and spread to the United States in the m ...
.
Supporting characters
![Jack Klugman Odd Couple scene 1971](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Jack_Klugman_Odd_Couple_scene_1971.JPG)
The Pigeon Sisters (
Monica Evans
Monica may refer to:
People
*Monica (actress) (born 1987), Indian film actress
*Monica (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Monica (singer) (born 1980), American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, ...
as Cecily and
Carole Shelley
Carole Augusta Shelley (16 August 1939 – 31 August 2018)Bartlett, Rhett"Carole Shelley, One of the Pigeon Sisters From 'The Odd Couple,' Dies at 79"''The Hollywood Reporter'', 1 September 2018 as Gwendolyn, reprising their roles from the Broadway stage play and film) made four appearances during the first season. The sisters were never seen after that, but were occasionally mentioned later on. Oscar gained a steady girlfriend during that latter part of the first season and half of the second, Dr. Nancy Cunningham (portrayed by
Joan Hotchkis
Joan Hotchkis (September 21, 1927 – September 27, 2022) was an American stage, screen and television actress, writer and performance artist. A lifetime member of the Actors Studio and the Dramatists Guild, Hotchkis was best known for playing ...
), an attractive physician is, whose colleague, Dr. Melnitz (played by
Bill Quinn in several episodes), is a curmudgeonly and sardonic older doctor who treats both Felix and Oscar. Felix also gained a girlfriend in the third season, Miriam Welby (portrayed by
Elinor Donahue
Elinor Donahue (born Mary Eleanor Donahue, April 19, 1937) is an American actress, best known today for playing the role of Betty Anderson, the eldest child of Jim and Margaret Anderson on the 1950s American sitcom ''Father Knows Best''.
Early ...
), and they lasted into the fifth season, presumably breaking up before Felix and Gloria remarry in the series finale. Christopher Shea appeared in three episodes of the first season as Philip, Felix and Oscar's precocious 11-year-old neighbor. Oscar makes frequent references to "Crazy Rhoda Zimmerman", his occasional good-time girlfriend, but she never appears onscreen.
The TV show also featured their ex-wives.
Janis Hansen appeared as Felix's ex-wife, Gloria (named Frances in the play and film) and Jack Klugman's real-life wife
Brett Somers
Brett Somers (born Audrey Dawn Johnston; July 11, 1924 – September 15, 2007) was a Canadian-American game-show personality, actress, and singer. Brett was best known as a panelist on the 1970s game show ''Match Game'' and for her recurring ro ...
played Blanche, Oscar's sardonic ex. (The couple separated in real life during the final season of the show.) There were many episodes in which Felix felt he had made a mistake by not fighting harder for Gloria, and took comically drastic measures to try to win her back. In contrast, Oscar seemed quite happy to be divorced from Blanche, and she from him, as the two constantly traded sarcastic barbs. The only major drawback from Oscar's point of view was the
alimony
Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial suppo ...
he was ordered to pay.
Willie Aames
Willie Aames, also credited as Willie Ames, (born Albert William Upton, July 15, 1960) is an American actor, film and television director, television producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for playing Tommy Bradford, one of the children of ...
and later
Leif Garrett
Leif Garrett (born Leif Per Nervik; November 8, 1961) is an American singer, actor, and television personality. He worked as a child actor, then in the 1970s became famous as a teen idol in music. He later received much publicity for his dru ...
made a few appearances as Felix's son, Leonard.
Pamelyn Ferdin
Pamelyn Wanda Ferdin (born February 4, 1959) is an American animal rights activist and a former child actress. Ferdin's acting career was primarily during the 1960s and 1970s, though she appeared in projects sporadically in the 1980s and later ...
and later Doney Oatman appeared as Felix's teenaged daughter, Edna.
The two other major supporting characters, Officer Murray Greshler and Myrna Turner, Oscar's secretary, were played by
Al Molinaro and
Penny Marshall
Carole Penny MarshallBorn Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; . Copyright 2012 (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, director and producer. She is known for her role as ...
(Garry's sister) respectively.
Alice Ghostley
Alice Margaret Ghostley (August 14, 1923 – September 21, 2007) was a Tony Award-winning American actress and singer on stage, film and television. She was best known for her roles as bumbling witch Esmeralda (1969–70; 1972) on ''Bewitched'' ...
played Murray's wife Mimi in one episode of the first season when Felix quickly outstays his welcome after he moves out of Oscar's apartment after the two have a falling-out.
Jane Dulo
Jane Dulo (October 13, 1917 – May 22, 1994) was an American actress and comedian.
Dulo was born Berniece Dewlow, the elder daughter of Lawrence and Nettie Dewlow, she began her career at the age of ten performing in vaudeville. Her father was ...
appeared as Mimi once in the second season. The regular cast was rounded out by
Garry Walberg
Gerrit Christian Walberg Jr. (June 10, 1921 – March 27, 2012) was an American character actor primarily known for his work on television. He performed in numerous TV shows from the early 1950s until the early 1990s, including ''Johnny Staccat ...
,
Larry Gelman
Lawrence Sheldon Gelman (November 3, 1930 – June 7, 2021) was an American film and television character actor. He was known for playing Dr. Bernie Tupperman on the TV series ''The Bob Newhart Show'' and Vinnie, the poker playing friend of ...
and
Ryan McDonald who played Oscar's poker cronies Homer "Speed" Deegan, the bald, bespectacled Vincent "Vinnie" Barella and Roy, Oscar's accountant, respectively. Ryan McDonald left the show after the seventh of the first season's eight episodes in which there was a poker game, and the character of Roy was mentioned occasionally after that, but never seen again.
Garry Walberg (who later appeared with Klugman on the 1976-83 series ''
Quincy M.E.'') as "Speed", and Larry Gelman as Vinnie, both made several scattered guest appearances after the first season. Character actor
Richard Stahl
Richard Stahl (January 4, 1932 – June 18, 2006) was an American actor who mostly appeared in comic roles on television and in films.
Early life
Born in Detroit, he studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. In the 1950 ...
appeared in nine episodes as, among other things, a florist, a pet-shop owner, a psychiatrist, a policeman and a non-denominational monk, never playing the same role twice. Actor
Herbie Faye
Herbie Faye (February 2, 1899 – June 28, 1980) was an American actor and vaudeville comedian who appeared in both of Phil Silvers' CBS television series, ''The Phil Silvers Show'' (1955–1959) and ''The New Phil Silvers Show'' (1963–1964 ...
appeared five times on the series in different roles. Veteran character actor
Phil Leeds
Phil Leeds (April 6, 1916 – August 16, 1998) was an American character actor. He is best known for appearing in many movies and television series, including guest appearances in ''The Dick Van Dyke Show'', '' Maude'', ''Friends'', ''Barney ...
made three appearances, each in a different role. Oscar's mother appeared in two different episodes, played once by
Elvia Allman
Elvia Beatrice Allman (September 19, 1904 – March 6, 1992) was an American actress in Hollywood films and television programs for over 50 years. She is best remembered for her semi-regular roles on ''The Beverly Hillbillies'' and ''Petticoat J ...
, and once by
Jane Dulo
Jane Dulo (October 13, 1917 – May 22, 1994) was an American actress and comedian.
Dulo was born Berniece Dewlow, the elder daughter of Lawrence and Nettie Dewlow, she began her career at the age of ten performing in vaudeville. Her father was ...
, both veteran actresses. Veteran character actor
John Fiedler
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
who portrayed Vinnie in the 1968 film version, made two guest appearances in different roles. Actor
Victor Buono
Victor Charles Buono (February 3, 1938January 1, 1982) was an American actor, comic, and briefly a recording artist. He was known for playing the villain King Tut in the television series ''Batman (TV series), Batman'' (1966–1968) and musician ...
guest starred in two episodes, playing a different role in each. Stand-up comedian
Leonard Barr
Leonard Barr (born Leonard Barra; September 27, 1903 – November 22, 1980) was an American stand-up comedian, film actor, and dancer.
Barr appeared several times with Dean Martin (his nephew) and Jerry Lewis when they hosted the Colgate Come ...
appeared in five episodes.
Celebrity guest stars
As themselves
![Jack Klugman Bobby Riggs Billie Jean King Odd Couple](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Jack_Klugman_Bobby_Riggs_Billie_Jean_King_Odd_Couple.jpg)
The show often had celebrity guest stars, who reflected the cultural leanings either of Oscar or Felix, either playing themselves or fictional characters.
Sportscaster
Howard Cosell
Howard is an English language, English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (disambiguation), Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defe ...
(2 episodes) and then ABC television producer
Roone Arledge
Roone Pinckney Arledge Jr. (July 8, 1931 – December 5, 2002) was an American sports and news broadcasting executive who was president of ABC Sports from 1968 until 1986 and ABC News from 1977 until 1998, and a key part of the company's rise t ...
(1 episode) played themselves.
Pop singer
Jaye P. Morgan
Jaye P. Morgan (born Mary Margaret Morgan) is a retired American popular music singer, actress, and game show panelist.
Early life
Morgan was born in Mancos in Montezuma County in far southwestern Colorado. Her family moved to California by t ...
played herself as one of Oscar's many girlfriends. Opera singers
Martina Arroyo
Martina Arroyo (born February 2, 1937) is an American operatic soprano who had a major international opera career from the 1960s through the 1980s. She was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve wide success.
Arroyo first ...
and
Richard Fredricks
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...
appeared as themselves. Other celebrities appearing as themselves included
Edward Villella
Edward Villella (born October 1, 1936) is an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He is frequently cited as America's most celebrated male dancer of ballet at the time. He has won numerous awards, including the Daytime Emmy Award for Outst ...
,
Monty Hall
Monty Hall (born Monte Halparin; August 25, 1921 – September 30, 2017) was a Canadian radio and television show host who moved to the United States in 1955 to pursue a career in broadcasting. After working as a radio newsreader and sport ...
,
Richard Dawson
Richard Dawson (born Colin Lionel Emm; 20 November 1932 – 2 June 2012) was a British-born American actor, comedian, game-show host and panelist in the United States. Dawson was well known for playing Corporal Peter Newkirk in ''Hogan's Heroe ...
,
Wolfman Jack
Robert Weston Smith (January 21, 1938July 1, 1995), known as Wolfman Jack, was an American disc jockey active from 1960 till his death in 1995. Famous for his gravelly voice, he credited it for his success, saying, "It's kept meat and potatoes ...
,
David Steinberg
David Steinberg (born August 9, 1942) is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, director, and author. At the height of his popularity, during the late 1960s and mid 1970s, he was one of the best-known comics in the United States. He appeared on ...
,
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...
,
Rodney Allen Rippy
Rodney Allen Rippy (born July 29, 1968) is a former American child actor, television personality, marketing director, producer, and politician. He appeared in TV commercials for the fast-food chain Jack in the Box in the early 1970s, as well as ...
,
John Simon,
Bubba Smith
Charles Aaron Smith (February 28, 1945 – August 3, 2011), commonly known as Bubba Smith, was an American football defensive end and actor. He first came into prominence at Michigan State University, where he twice earned All-American hon ...
,
Deacon Jones
David D. "Deacon" Jones (December 9, 1938 – June 3, 2013) was an American professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Los Angeles Rams, San Diego Chargers, and the Washington Redskins. H ...
,
John Barbour John Barbour may refer to:
* John Barbour (poet) (1316–1395), Scottish poet
* John Barbour (MP for New Shoreham), MP for New Shoreham 1368-1382
* John Barbour (footballer) (1890–1916), Scottish footballer
* John S. Barbour (1790–1855), U. ...
and
Allen Ludden
Allen Ellsworth Ludden (born Allen Packard Ellsworth; October 5, 1917 – June 9, 1981) was an American television personality, actor, singer, emcee, and game show host. He hosted various incarnations of the game show ''Password'' between 1 ...
and
Betty White
Betty Marion White (January 17, 1922December 31, 2021) was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of Golden Age of Television, early television, with a television career spanning almost seven decades, White was noted for her vast work i ...
(married in real life). In one episode, noted tennis
frenemies and real-life competitors
Bobby Riggs
Robert Larimore Riggs (February 25, 1918 – October 25, 1995) was an American tennis champion who was the World No. 1 amateur in 1939 and World No. 1 professional in 1946 and 1947. He played his first professional tennis match on December ...
and
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States ...
appeared as themselves.
Singer-songwriter
Paul Williams appeared in an episode where Felix's daughter Edna runs away to follow Williams on tour. (Williams dissuades her.)
Dick Clark
Richard Wagstaff Clark (November 30, 1929April 18, 2012) was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting ''American Bandstand'' from 1956 to 198 ...
made an appearance as himself, a radio disc jockey who calls Oscar in a contest, where he wins a new car (''The New Car'', episode 76).
Neil Simon
Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He has received mo ...
(the author of the play which the series is based upon) makes an uncredited cameo appearance during the fifth season in ''Two on the Aisle'', as does
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...
in ''The Hollywood Story''.
Fictional depictions
*
Marilyn Horne
Marilyn Horne (born January 16, 1934) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. She is a recipient of the Natio ...
played Jackie Hartman, a shy but musically talented co-worker of Oscar's.
*
Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark (April 15, 1933 – November 15, 2018) was an American singer and musician. He is best known for having hosted ''Hee Haw'', a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1997. Clark was an important and influen ...
played "Wild" Willie Boggs, an old practical joke-playing friend of Oscar's, who nonetheless has enormous musical talent, impressing even Felix.
*
Jean Simmons played the visiting Princess Lydia from the fictional European country of Liechtenberg (
Peggy Rea
Peggy Jane Rea (March 31, 1921 – February 5, 2011) was an American actress known for her many roles in television, often playing matronly characters. played her lady-in-waiting), who meets Felix in a photography session but goes out on a date with Oscar, and he comes home bragging of a wonderful time. He proudly relates that the Princess had a wonderful time also, and that "she knighted a wino".
*
Pernell Roberts
Pernell Elven Roberts Jr. (May 18, 1928 – January 24, 2010) was an American stage, film, and television actor, activist, and singer. In addition to guest-starring in over 60 television series, he was best known for his roles as Ben Cartw ...
played country music impresario Billy Joe Babcock, to whom Oscar owes a lot of money in gambling debts, and who does NOT take IOUs.
*
Jack Soo
Jack Soo (born Goro Suzuki, October 28, 1917 – January 11, 1979) was an American singer and actor. He was best known for his role as Detective Nick Yemana on the television sitcom ''Barney Miller''.
Early life
Soo was born Goro Suzuki on a s ...
played Chinese wrestler Chuk Mai Chin.
*
Reta Shaw
Reta Shaw (September 13, 1912 – January 8, 1982) was an American character actress known for playing strong, hard-edged, working women in film and on many of the most popular television programs of the 1960s and 1970s in the United Sta ...
played a tough retired Army Colonel, Claire Frost, who works as housekeeper when Oscar is sick and Felix is too busy. She hails from
Bayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne ( ) is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is situated on a peninsula located between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill Van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east. As of ...
, and her domineering ways cause Oscar to derisively refer to her as "The Beast of Bayonne".
*
Penny Marshall
Carole Penny MarshallBorn Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; . Copyright 2012 (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, director and producer. She is known for her role as ...
, who played Oscar's secretary, Myrna Turner, made her last appearance in an episode in which she married "Sheldn" (his legal name since the "o" was omitted from his birth certificate), played by
Rob Reiner
Robert Norman Reiner (born March 6, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, Reiner first came to national prominence with the role of Michael "Meathead" Stivic on the CBS sitcom ''All in the Family'' (1971–1979), a performanc ...
, Marshall's husband at the time. Marshall's real-life brother and sister,
Garry and Ronnie played Myrna's siblings, Werner Turner and Verna Turner, in the same episode.
*
Victor Buono
Victor Charles Buono (February 3, 1938January 1, 1982) was an American actor, comic, and briefly a recording artist. He was known for playing the villain King Tut in the television series ''Batman (TV series), Batman'' (1966–1968) and musician ...
appeared twice, as Mr. Lovelace, the eccentric new manager of the building in which Felix and Oscar live, who loves plants but hates people, and as Dr. Clove, an "exorcist" in an episode inspired by the film ''
The Exorcist
''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty W ...
'' in which the boys think their apartment is haunted.
*
Albert Brooks
Albert Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein ; July 22, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker.
He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for 1987's '' Broadcast News'' and was widely praised for his performance as a ...
, as Rudy Mandel, a pretentious advertising colleague of Felix (in two episodes in the show's first season)
*
William Redfield as Felix's brother Floyd Unger, owner of Unger Gum in
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
.
Awards and nominations
During its original run, the show had mediocre ratings at best (the show was never among the Top 30 programs on the
Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
list during its entire run). Nonetheless, both actors were nominated for
Emmy Award
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
s in each year of the show's run. Jack Klugman won two Emmy Awards for his work (in 1971 and 1973), and Tony Randall won an Emmy as well (in 1975, upon accepting the award, he commented on the fact that he wished he "had a job,” as the show had recently been cancelled).
Klugman was nominated for a
Golden Globe in 1972 and won one in 1974. The show itself was also nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in the years 1971, 1972, and 1974. To date, these are the last Emmy nominations to a sitcom airing on a Friday night.
Opening narration and credit sequence
For the first three seasons, the program's opening credit sequence consisted of Felix and Oscar in various humorous situations around New York City. These scenes included Felix trying, to no avail, to help an old lady cross the street, Oscar walking into wet cement while ogling a girl with a revealing dress, Oscar eating a hot dog and getting chili on his shirt, and both men cavorting around a
Maypole
A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place.
The festivals may occur on 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some countries it is instead erected at ...
. The end of the introduction title sequence (for the series entire run) showed the duo sitting on a park bench in front of the
William Tecumseh Sherman Monument in
Grand Army Plaza
Grand Army Plaza, originally known as Prospect Park Plaza, is a public plaza that comprises the northern corner and the main entrance of Prospect Park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It consists of concentric oval rings arranged as s ...
at
West 58th Street and
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...
, where Oscar throws his lunch wrapper on the ground, while Felix beckons him to pick it up.
Halfway through the show's debut season, a "prologue" was added to the introduction and featured a narration (the voice of actor
Bill Woodson
William T. Woodson (July 16, 1917 – February 22, 2017) was an American film, stage, radio and voice actor, best known for his narration of the radio series '' This is Your FBI'', the animated series ''Super Friends'' and all its spin-offs, and ...
) retelling how Felix and Oscar came to live together:
"On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence." (Unger's unseen wife slams door, only to reopen it and hand Felix his pan.) "That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right. But he also knew that, someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison's wife had thrown ''him'' out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment, without driving each other crazy?"
ABC apparently added the narration because it did not want the audience to speculate about a homosexual subtext, given the changing perceptions of masculinity at the time. ABC insisted that every episode mention that the characters were both divorced. It was
noted that Oscar had been thrown out of his home like Felix, when several episodes had shown that Oscar had lived in the same apartment before and during his marriage (as in the original play and film). Later, the opening narrative stated that when Felix moved into Oscar's apartment, Oscar was already divorced.
In another case, the fourth episode showed Felix and Oscar meeting during
jury duty
Jury duty or jury service is service as a juror in a legal proceeding.
Juror selection process
The prosecutor and defense can dismiss potential jurors for various reasons, which can vary from one state to another, and they can have a specifi ...
. Later, the opening narration included a retcon that they were childhood friends. During the second season, the narration changed it to them being “simply friends,” and the "sometime earlier" narrative was also changed to "several years earlier.” Later, in an episode aired in 1973, the two were in the Army together, with Felix being Oscar's superior at the time Oscar and wife Blanche (
Brett Somers
Brett Somers (born Audrey Dawn Johnston; July 11, 1924 – September 15, 2007) was a Canadian-American game-show personality, actress, and singer. Brett was best known as a panelist on the 1970s game show ''Match Game'' and for her recurring ro ...
) married. An episode aired in 1974, the epilogue showed Oscar's recollection of meeting Felix when they were children.
In later seasons, the opening sequence featured highlights from past episodes, mixed with the previous footage as well as another clip (recreated from a scene on the show), in which Felix reprimands Oscar for drying his hands on the curtains, only to have Oscar use Felix's shirt as a towel as well.
For the first three seasons of the show, the closing credits of the show consisted of more of the duo's zany antics, such as Felix talking to a man repairing a street clock and Oscar indiscreetly looking at a peep show. During the fourth season, the credits included a scene where Oscar throws his cigar into a fountain in
Columbus Circle
Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South ( West 59th Street), and Central Park West, at the so ...
, Felix barks at him to pick it up, and Oscar scoops it up with his shoe and then places the wet, soiled cigar butt in Felix's pocket. For the final season, the credits were shown against a blue background.
Related appearances by Klugman and Randall
Over the years, Klugman and Randall appeared in many television commercials and
public service announcement
A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...
s for several different products as Felix and Oscar, including 1972 ads for
Yoplait
Yoplait ( , ) is the world's largest franchise brand of yogurt. It is jointly owned by American food conglomerate General Mills and French dairy cooperative Sodiaal.
History
In 1964, 100,000 French farmers agreed to merge six regional dairy coo ...
yogurt (Klugman later appeared in commercials without Randall for the product in the early 1980s); in 1974, for the game ''
Challenge Yahtzee''; for a while, their likenesses also appeared on the game's packaging, with the slogan "You play your way—I'll play mine!"; in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Klugman and Randall reprised their ''Odd Couple'' characters in a series of commercials for
Eagle Snacks, although in some of these spots they called each other by their real names.
Klugman and Randall also reprised their roles as Felix and Oscar in several regional productions of the original Neil Simon play. They toured in the play during the TV version's summertime off-season in the early to mid-1970s; they later appeared in several performances of the play during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1997, they appeared in a Broadway revival of the Simon play, ''
The Sunshine Boys
''The Sunshine Boys'' is an original two-act play written by Neil Simon that premiered December 20, 1972 on Broadway starring Jack Albertson as Willie Clark and Sam Levene as Al Lewis and later adapted for film and television.
Plot
The pla ...
''.
In the early 1980s, while starring in the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
drama ''
Quincy, M.E.
''Quincy, M.E.'' (also called ''Quincy'') is an American mystery medical drama television series from Universal Studios that aired on NBC from October 3, 1976, to May 11, 1983. Jack Klugman starred in the title role as a Los Angeles County med ...
'', Klugman appeared in TV commercials for
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western ca ...
copiers
A photocopier (also called copier or copy machine, and formerly Xerox machine, the generic trademark) is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers u ...
.
Minolta
was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It made the first integrated autofocu ...
countered by hiring Randall, then on the NBC sitcom ''
Love, Sidney
''Love, Sidney'' is an American sitcom television series which aired two seasons on NBC, from October 28, 1981, to June 6, 1983. It stars Tony Randall as Sidney Shorr (a single, closeted gay man), Swoosie Kurtz as Laurie Morgan (a single mother wi ...
'', to do a commercial for that company's copiers where he channeled his Felix role, mentioning that he "can change copy colors without getting that disgusting black powder all over my hands!" He closed by saying "But that doesn't mean I'm a neat freak. Of course, I'm not a slob, either, like, uh... " and waved his hand, to suggest Klugman as Oscar.
Randall and Klugman reunited for the 1993
television movie
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
, ''
The Odd Couple Together Again
''The Odd Couple Together Again'' is a 1993 American television film, made-for-television Comedy drama, comedy-drama film starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman as Felix Unger and Oscar Madison, respectively. It is a sequel to the The Odd Couple ( ...
'' to a mixed reception. Klugman had lost a
vocal cord
In humans, vocal cords, also known as vocal folds or voice reeds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The size of vocal cords affects the pitch of voice. Open when breathing and vibrating for speech ...
to
throat cancer
Head and neck cancer develops from tissues in the lip and oral cavity (mouth), larynx (throat), salivary glands, nose, sinuses or the skin of the face. The most common types of head and neck cancers occur in the lip, mouth, and larynx. Symptoms ...
and this real-life struggle was written into the script. In the film, Felix tries to help Oscar recover following surgery; he also becomes overly involved in his daughter Edna's upcoming wedding, much to her and Gloria's (
Barbara Barrie
Barbara Barrie (born Barbara Ann Berman; May 23, 1931) is an American actress and author.
Her film breakthrough came in 1964 with her performance as Julie in the landmark film ''One Potato, Two Potato'', for which she won the Best Actress Awar ...
) dismay.
Other versions
An ABC cartoon version of ''The Odd Couple'' premiered on September 6, 1975 titled ''
The Oddball Couple
''The Oddball Couple'' is an animated half-hour Saturday morning show that ran on the ABC TV network from September 6 to December 20, 1975. The show was a production of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises in association with Paramount Television, and wa ...
'' during the network's Saturday morning kids' programming block, ''Funshine Saturday''. Although authorized by Neil Simon (who received a "based on" credit) completely different characters were created: "Spiffy" (a fussy cat voiced by
Frank Nelson) and "Fleabag" (a sloppy dog voiced by
Paul Winchell
Paul Winchell (''né'' Wilchinsky; December 21, 1922 – June 24, 2005) was an American actor, comedian, humanitarian, inventor and ventriloquist whose career flourished in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1950 to 1954, he hosted ''The Paul Winchell S ...
) who live together in a house that is half rundown and messy and half pristine and tidy along with a matching car. It was directed and produced by
David DePatie
David Hudson DePatie (December 24, 1929 – September 23, 2021) was an American film and television producer who was the last executive in charge of the original Warner Bros. Cartoons studio and the longest-living until his death. He also formed ...
and
Friz Freleng
Isadore "Friz" Freleng (August 21, 1905May 26, 1995), credited as I. Freleng early in his career, was an American animator, cartoonist, director, producer, and composer known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' ...
, along with
Gerry Chiniquy, and
Robert McKimson
Robert Porter McKimson Sr. (October 13, 1910 – September 29, 1977) was an American animator and illustrator, best known for his work on the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons from Warner Bros. Cartoons and later DePa ...
among others, who directed several episodes. The characters' professions in this version were reversed from the original series, with the fastidious Spiffy working as a reporter and the rumpled Fleabag a photographer, often working together. The cartoon was canceled in 1977.
In 1982, as a hedge against the
1981 Writers Guild of America strike, ABC aired an
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
version of ''The Odd Couple'', starring
Ron Glass
Ronald Earle Glass (July 10, 1945 – November 25, 2016) was an American actor. He was known for his roles as literary Det. Ron Harris in the television sitcom ''Barney Miller'' (1975–1982), and as the spiritual shepherd, Shepherd Book, in the ...
as Felix and
Demond Wilson
Grady Demond Wilson (born October 13, 1946) is an American actor and author. He portrayed Lamont Sanford, the son of Fred Sanford (played by Redd Foxx) in the NBC sitcom ''Sanford and Son'' (1972–77), and Oscar Madison in '' The New Odd Coup ...
as Oscar. It was called ''
The New Odd Couple
''The New Odd Couple'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on ABC from 1982 to 1983, and was an updated version of the 1970s television series '' The Odd Couple''. ''The New Odd Couple'' was the second attempt to remake a series ...
'', and initially used eight previously-filmed scripts from the original series; when the strike ended during the series' production, union writers returned, and original episodes were written from then on. It was canceled after only half a season.
A Chilean version titled ''Una Pareja Dispareja'' began airing in January 2009 on
TVN TVN may refer to:
* TVN (Australian TV channel), a former horse racing channel
* Televisión Nacional de Chile, a public broadcaster
* TVN (Indonesia), a former television station; predecessor of Rajawali Televisi
* TVN (Norway), or TVNorge, a comm ...
(which had aired the series during the 1970s). This version takes several of its cues from ''
Two and a Half Men
''Two and a Half Men'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS for twelve seasons from September 22, 2003, to February 19, 2015. Originally starring Charlie Sheen in the lead role alongside Jon Cryer and Angus T. Jones, the ...
'', a
Chuck Lorre
Charles Michael Lorre (; born Charles Michael Levine; October 18, 1952) is an American film & television director, writer, producer, composer and actor.
Called the "King of Sitcoms", he has created/co-created and produced sitcoms including ''G ...
-created sitcom with a similar premise to ''The Odd Couple'' (even alluded to the similarities between the two in the episode "Whipped Unto The Third Generation"). Some of the details taken from ''Two and a Half Men'' include Felix and Oscar being siblings instead of friends, as well as Felix being a doctor and Oscar a musician.
Another American remake, also called ''
The Odd Couple Odd Couple may refer to:
Neil Simon play and its adaptations
* ''The Odd Couple'' (play), a 1965 stage play by Neil Simon
** ''The Odd Couple'' (film), a 1968 film based on the play
*** ''The Odd Couple'' (1970 TV series), a 1970–1975 televisi ...
'', aired on CBS for three seasons from 2015 to 2017. This version, a multi-camera sitcom, was co-created and co-produced by
Matthew Perry
Matthew Langford Perry (born August 19, 1969) is an American-Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Chandler Bing on the NBC television sitcom ''Friends'' (1994–2004).
As well as starring in the short-lived television series '' St ...
, who played Oscar, while
Thomas Lennon
Thomas Patrick Lennon (born August 9, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, director, and novelist. He plays Lieutenant Jim Dangle on the series ''Reno 911!''
Lennon is an accomplished screenwriter of several major st ...
played Felix.
Episodes
Home media
The Complete First Season of ''The Odd Couple'' was released on DVD in
Region 1 on August 18, 2006 by
Time Life Video under license from
Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global.
The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...
(
Paramount Television was the program's original distributor). Some episodes, mainly from the first season, were available on a VHS videotape set during the 1990s, and distributed by
Columbia House
Columbia House was an umbrella brand for Columbia Records' mail-order music clubs, the primary iteration of which was the Columbia Record Club, established in 1955. The Columbia House brand was introduced in the early 1970s by Columbia Records ...
.
Each episode on the First Season DVDs contain an introduction from the show's producer Garry Marshall. Also included as extras are Emmy Awards speeches, bloopers, TV interviews with the show's stars and a clip of ''The Odd Couple'' on Broadway.
Paramount/
CBS DVD
CBS Home Entertainment (formerly CBS Video Enterprises, Inc., MGM/CBS Home Video, CBS/Fox Video and CBS Video, currently branded as CBS DVD for DVD releases and CBS Blu-ray for Blu-ray releases) is a home entertainment company owned by Paramoun ...
have since released the remaining seasons (two through five) of ''The Odd Couple'' on DVD in Region 1. Season 1 was released in Region 2 on April 28, 2008. While the Time/Life Season 1 DVD release contained only unedited episodes as originally broadcast, CBS Home Entertainment opted to edit their DVDs of seasons two through five, removing short segments or occasionally entire scenes which included music sung by Felix or some other character. A notable example of this can be seen in the Season 5 episode "Strike Up the Band or Else" where, in the epilogue, guest star
Pernell Roberts' character is going to sing, and the episode abruptly ends and closing credits roll. Fans and critics alike lambasted CBS/Paramount for the shoddy treatment ''The Odd Couple'' DVD releases received, concluding that the studio has misled consumers by labeling their DVD sets as "complete" when they have been intentionally edited to avoid paying royalties required by the music publishers.
On June 16, 2015, CBS DVD released ''The Odd Couple- The Complete Series'' on DVD in Region 1, albeit with the same edits and removal of scenes with music.
In Australia (Region 4), Paramount released The First Season in 2008, and no further releases were made. In 2016, Via Vision Entertainment obtained the rights to release the entire series from July 2016 through until September 2016. Followed by a Complete Series boxset in November 2016.
References
External links
*
*
*
1049 Park Avenue: An Odd Couple Podcast'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odd Couple, The
1970 American television series debuts
1970s American sitcoms
1975 American television series endings
American Broadcasting Company original programming
Fictional duos
Live action television shows based on films
Television duos
Television series based on adaptations
Television series based on plays
Television series by CBS Studios
Television shows set in New York City
The Odd Couple
Television series based on works by Neil Simon